Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin assured civil servants should not fear the threats by the ruling party as they have the freedom to vote for the party of their choice.

Dismissing allegations that the welfare of civil servants would be ignored and their numbers reduced, Muhyiddin said the Opposition pact had pledged to improve the level of professionalism and efficiency of civil servants.

“We have proven track records in Selangor and Penang states that was under the PH administration, where the welfare of civil servant are well taken care off.

“Various forms of incentives and recognition were given to civil servants including a 3-month salary bonus announced in the Selangor Budget 2018 and a RM2,000 bonus announced in the Penang Budget 2018.

“The bonus amount of civil servants in both states are higher than the RM1,500 incentive by the federal government for civil servants as announced by the Prime Minister in Budget 2018,” said Muhyiddin, addressing Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

At a press conference, today, Muhyiddin said PH acknowledges the role of civil servants, in which he said comprises of approximately one million Malaysians, excluding family members.

He said threats allegedly made by the ruling party against civil servants who supported PH were irresponsible in nature, and would inadvertently influence their decision in GE14.

“This is why we must give the assurance that when we take over, their position will be respected even more than the ruling government had.

“The threat against teachers that action will be taken not only shows as though the ruling party knows who the civil servants are voting for, but perhaps they are desperate in getting all the votes they can by making such statement,” he said.

In January, Education minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid was reported to have threatened teachers and government officers with disciplinary action if they supported the Opposition.

However, Mahdzir had then later refuted the report and said he had merely given “fatherly advice” when asked teachers and education officers to not support the Opposition.